The Grimm Child of Remnant
by Aero1133
Summary: Sometimes, in the wake of trauma, people come up with the most bizarre ideas. Meet a young man in just such a situation, someone who absolutely believes himself to be a monster. What will become of him as he lives the life of a Huntsman? Follows a less-than-sane OC with one of my favorite powers as a Semblance.
1. Chapter 1: The Beginning

**Well, I asked for possible names for this story at the end of Wind Mage: Chapter 5 but didn't get any suggestions. Oh well, I'm not gonna wait any longer to post it, so sue me for the title being less than creative. Don't expect super frequent updates for this, but I do hope you'll enjoy it.**

"James, I've heard some risky proposals in my time, but this is. . ."

"I know, I know. But he can't train in Atlas or Vacuo. The boy would be lynched before the second semester. People are scared, and I'm hoping he'll get a better reception here at Beacon."

Ozpin relented but still didn't look convinced. "I suppose you're right. But he's still too young. Plus, he'd throw off the team balances. We create teams for a reason. It's why we only accept students in multiples of four. He'd either be all alone, or he'd have to be assimilated into another team."

Ironwood hadn't been expecting that, but pursued his goal regardless: "Four is, indeed, a symbolic number. Four Kingdoms, four basic elements, et cetera. But the principle of teamwork can be learned just as well with a five person team. Alternatively, allowing him to be alone would teach him self-reliance and the skills necessary for solo missions. Either way, there shouldn't be a problem. As for his age, didn't you recruit a girl of fifteen?"

"Yes, but that girl is also the niece of Qrow Branwen, and he personally trained her. Not to mention that with her skills, she is a match for some of our second-year students."

"I don't see the problem, then. The boy is skilled and wise beyond his years. Remember what he was able to accomplish immediately after unlocking his Semblance?"

Ozpin frowned behind his mug of coffee. "Of course I do. Everyone with even the slightest link to Atlas has heard one version of the story or another. Which is why I'm hesitant to allow him to train anywhere near my students, especially the Schnee heiress."

Ironwood couldn't refute that. As soon as that boy was recognized, things could turn ugly. "Ozpin, I know the risks. But the boy needs a home and people to understand him. Our military can only do so much, and the people of Atlas despise him."

The Beacon headmaster was torn. On one hand, he was inviting potential disaster to come to his school. If people became aware of the tragedy this one boy had been through, panic would envelop the student body. He'd be avoided like the plague while the rumor mill made him out as some kind of villain. On the other, he could leave a young man, practically a child, to fend for himself in a nation which hounded for his blood. Though the rumors made him out to be, the boy wasn't cruel or malicious. Individually, some people might aid him, but the masses would deter most supporters. If the boy came to Beacon, people would at least not hate him so wholly.

"Why Beacon, James? Why not send him to Haven?"

"Oz, think about it. If he's here, you can keep an eye on him. I barely know the Headmaster of Haven, and I know the environment at Beacon will be good for him. I know _your school_ can help him to regain some sense of normality."

Ozpin looked down on the paper on his desk. The one form that could change a young man's life forever.

 _Name: Shiroi Akujin_

 _Age: 16_

 _Height: 5'6"_

 _Weight: 146 lbs._

 _Hair: Black_

 _Eyes: Red_

 _Former Schooling: None_

 _Semblance: Skeletal Manipulation_

 _Aura Level: 79/100_

Ozpin scanned to the bottom of the document, passing over medical information and legal status, coming to the section labelled _Extra Information/Notes_ :

 _Unique semblance. When fighting, displays savagery and brutality, but is shy off the battlefield. Orphaned at young age, trained by village Huntsmen. Fled after destruction of village. Has since been given refuge by Atlas military._

At the bottom of the page was a line for a signature. His signature. All Ozpin had to do was sign the paper or hand it back, and he'd be finished with this matter.

The two men stood in silence for what felt like hours, but couldn't have been more than a few minutes. It was a battle of wills: would Ozpin stand firm against the boy's admission, or give in to Ironwood and allow one of the most dangerous powers on Remnant to enter Beacon?

Ozpin sighed, breaking the silence. With deliberate care, he took a pen from his desk and signed the paper before filing it away.

"You had better know what you're playing with, James. If the boy hurts a single student of my school, you will be facing dire consequences."

Unaffected by the warning, Ironwood's stern face turned into a slight smile of relief. "Thank you, old friend. With your school's training, both Akujin and Remnant will benefit."

James nodded his head and bid goodbye to his fellow headmaster, but just before he entered the elevator, Ozpin called for his attention.

"Before you go, I have one thing to ask. What does his name mean? Most young and women of his generation are named for a color, or can be translated as such. What about him?"

Ironwood stood absolutely still. Turning his head just enough to see Ozpin, he answered slowly: "No one knows his original name, what you see is what he's told us to call him. It means 'White Demon.' Apparently, it was the name his village used for Grimm, and he adopted it after the incident. If that's all you'd like to ask, then goodnight Ozpin"

Ozpin heard the elevator descend but didn't pay the sound the slightest attention. He was drawn into the implications of Ironwood's words. The boy willingly referred to himself as a demon. No, it was worse than that; demons were just things created by parents to make their children to behave. He was named after the creatures of Grimm; real-life monsters that took numerous lives every year. To those villagers, he was no better than a machine of hatred and destruction, and he had internalized the sentiment. He believed them, even if he didn't want to. He was fully sapient Grimm.

* * *

"Oh, I'm so happy my little sis is going to Beacon with me!"

The speaker, currently enveloping her younger sister in a bone-breaking hug, was one Yang Xiao-Long. The seventeen year-old, standing at 5'8" with moon pale skin and soft lilac eyes, she was the pretty much the definition of blonde bombshell. Her wavy golden hair fell just past her waist, and was obviously well taken care of.

She wore a tan leather jacket, which looked a few sizes too small for her, over a yellow top that barely covered her ample chest, leaving her stomach completely exposed. Black shorts that showed off most of her legs were covered in the back by a tan hip cape. On her feet were knee-high leather boots and orange socks of about the same length. On her arms were two weaponized bracelets, the Ember Cecilia, and she had fingerless black gloves on her hands.

The girl getting the life crushed out of her was Ruby Rose, Yang's half sister. She was two years younger than her sister, and if her sister was sexy then she could be described as cute. Her skin was the same shade as her sisters, but she had silver eyes. Her hair was black with red highlights toward the tips, and she had it cut just short of shoulder length. The odd color had come from her mother's side rather than their shared father's. In fact, Ruby looked almost exactly like her mother as far as her body was concerned. She was half a foot shorter than Yang, whose mother was a good deal taller.

She was wearing a black blouse and a similarly colored corset with red strings. A black skirt with red trim on the edge completed the gothic look that she had. She wore black stockings and combat boots with red soles and laces. Attached to her shoulders by two silver crosses was a rose-colored cloak with a hood, and in a holster behind her waist she was carrying one of the most dangerous weapons ever made: a high-impact sniper scythe, aka the Crescent Rose.

"Yang, you're causing a scene!" the younger girl whispered. She didn't want to be the center of attention on the first day for Oum's sake!

The elder girl finally put her sister down as the Bullhead took flight toward Beacon. "So? All eyes on me, that's how it should be!" Ruby wasn't sure if the rhyme was intentional or not, but she was not amused by any means. At least it wasn't a pun. Yang made the absolute WORST puns.

"So Rubes, see any cute boys here? Anyone catching your eye?" the blonde teased.

"Yang, Dad would ground you in a heartbeat if he heard you," Ruby deadpanned.

"Pff, so? He's not here, let's live a little!"

Despite her distaste for her sister's teasing, Ruby was indeed observing the students around her. In all honesty, she was pretty intimidated. She had been moved up two years, so she didn't have any friends to help her along. Not to mention that all the other students were older than her and many of them probably knew each other. She did notice one person, however, who was standing in the very back of the Bullhead.

He had very dark skin, distinguishing him as a Vacuo native. She wasn't sure if it was genetic or if he was just extremely tanned, but it hardly mattered. Skin color wasn't much of a concern to people in this day and age. His hair was so black that it seemed to absorb even the nearby colors. It served to enhance the color of his eyes, though. They were deep red, like a pair of rubies set into his face. The contrast between the two colors was mesmerizing and terrifying at the same time. He wasn't much taller than her, maybe four inches, with a frame built for speed and power: His body was lean but corded with muscle. If he wore loose clothing he could pass for scrawny, but underestimating him in a fight could be a huge mistake.

Besides, that was only if her were wearing loose clothing in the first place. What he had on at the moment was a tight white shirt that hugged his body. It had no sleeves, so his arms were on full display. His pants were black jeans which, again, left little to the imagination. They didn't look so tight as to be uncomfortable, but enough so that they didn't slow down movement. His black sandals were designed with a similar concept, being tightly bound to his ankles and the bottoms of his shins. They were open in the toes, which seemed like a strange design choice.

After a few moments, the boy noticed her stare and looked curiously back at her. He didn't seem displeased, he was just returning her curious gaze with one of his own. Sensing a chance to meet someone new, an outsider like her, Ruby approached him.

"Hey. You're by yourself too, huh?"

He just nodded, not visibly put off by the statement. Ruby took this as a good sign and continued.

"I'm Ruby. What's your name?"

"Shiroi Akujin," he said. His voice was surprisingly low for someone so small, not that she was one to talk. If he were a singer, he'd be a solid baritone, though he could also work as a bass. It was smooth and soothing.

"Are you from Vacuo?"

"Originally, yes. I'm coming from Atlas now."

"Cool. I'm from Patch. How old are you? You don't look like you're seventeen."

"That's because I'm sixteen. They decided to bring me to Beacon a year early."

"Awesome! I got in two years early, so this is kind of awkward for me too. Do you know anyone else here?"

"No. I don't talk to people much. They avoid me if they can. I'm surprised you didn't."

"Well, I don't really have any friends here, so I wanted to see if I could get to know you. It's hard to make friends, isn't it?"

"I guess. I've never really tried it, though. People ignore me, so I usually just do my own thing."

Ruby didn't like where this was going. Sure, he was a bit intimidating, but for everyone to outright ignore him was just wrong. "People ignore you? That's not right! Nobody should be ignored."

"You're right, they shouldn't. But for something like me, it's at least better than being hunted down."

This was the first thing Yang heard as she found and collected her little sister. "Woah kid, are you a criminal or something? Ruby, who the hell are you hanging out with?" She nearly shouted the last part as she took up a defensive stance in front of Ruby.

"I'm not a criminal," the boy said without the least bit of emotion in his voice. "I'm Shiroi Akujin. I think we're called 'Grimm' in your language. People hunt us, because we hurt them. I just happen to be smarter than the others, and I don't hurt humans, so I don't get hunted anymore."

Ok, now they were confused. Yang was the one to ask the question: "Wait, a Grimm? I've seen a few Grimm in my time, and you aren't one of them, little boy."

"Like I said, I'm the only Shiroi Akujin that doesn't kill people, so far as I know. In that sense, I'm nothing like the others you've faced."

Both girls fell into silence. This boy had a screw loose somewhere. Maybe a few of them, actually. No normal person would liken himself to Grimm, no matter how vicious he was, and the boy in front of them was more impassive than anything else. Grabbing her sister's hand, Yang slowly walked away from the strange boy, taking looks at him over her shoulder as she retreated.

Ruby, on the other hand, was woken from her confusion when she felt herself being forcibly moved. She used her free hand to wave goodbye to her new "friend," which he returned with the same neutral look he'd had on for the entire conversation.

Once the girls were a fair distance away from the strange boy, Yang took a lecturing tone with her sister, which was extremely rare. "Ruby, you need to be more careful. That kid wasn't right in the head, and because of that there's no telling what he might do. I know that I told you to make friends, but stay away from people like him. It'll just get you in trouble."

Ruby had her head down during the entire speech. It wasn't her fault that the person she approached had been a weirdo. And even if he was a touch crazy, she didn't think he was dangerous. After all, he didn't display any hostility at all when she approached him. He just seemed really reserved.

After enduring her sister's entire fifteen minute lecture, the ship landed at Beacon, and the students were trusted to find the auditorium before the Headmaster's speech. Though, within the space of the next ten minutes, she instead found her way into ANOTHER LECTURE. Seriously, what was it with her and lectures today? This time, she was being informed about how to properly handle Dust, not that she hadn't already known.

The lecturer was the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. Ruby and bumped into her, knocking over several cases of Dust. When the heiress had begun the lecture by waving an open vial of Dust, things only went from bad to worse. Long story short, Dust is just like its household counterpart in that if it gets into your nose, you can end up sneezing. Unlike the bunnies under your couch, however, this Dust is highly explosive.

Weiss Schnee was a petite girl that stood just barely taller than Ruby, but her without her heels might have been shorter. Her skin was paler than Ruby's, with icy blue eyes. Her hair was done up in a long white ponytail that ended at her mid-thighs. She wore a white, sleeveless dress which turned light blue toward the bottom. She wore a jacket with a similar design, the inside of which was red. A sleek rapier with revolving Dust cartridges was attached to her waist.

Thankfully, just as Ruby's patience was starting to wear thin from all the lecturing, another girl walked onto the scene. After thoroughly pissing off the Schnee heiress and leaving Ruby feeling both glad and defeated, that girl just walked off without another word, denying the youngest girl from thanking her or trying to make a friend. Yeah, today was just NOT Ruby's day.

 **So what do you think? If you have any thoughts or ideas be sure to leave a review. Always up for some constructive criticism. And as I've said, Wind Mage will be my major story so this one will be updated less frequently.**


	2. Chapter 2: People and Premonitions

**I find the lack of support for this story. . . disturbing. Thanks to those of you have read it so far, and welcome to those who have been brought here by the plug on my other story. It doesn't have Kazuma, but it should still be entertaining. A little more dramatic. As with Wind Mage, I'll be responding to reviews here in the opening, though that's only one today.**

 **LilyHemsworth: Thanks for the kind words. Here's that update! Hopefully you'll get some more company in that review section.**

 **Well, without further ado, here's Chapter 2!**

Shiroi had watched the entire scene as it unfolded. He knew of Dust and people had explained to him how the substance worked, but he personally didn't care for it. As a being with a soul, the only Grimm in such a position, he could activate it just like humans and Faunus, but regarded it as something belonging to the sapient races he disliked. He didn't hurt anyone without reason, but his reasoning was much the same as that of the Goliaths: he just didn't wanted to be killed. It didn't mean he accepted their existence any more than the other Grimm.

So, when the girl he'd met on the airship blew herself up and made an enemy, he didn't try to help in the slightest. Instead, he just followed the black-haired girl who had stepped in, because she seemed to know where to go. He went unnoticed for now, and occupied his mind by observing his unwitting guide.

She was about his height, minus the bow on her head. She had a very lithe body, the kind built for speed and acrobatics at the cost of brute strength. She was wearing a white shirt without any sleeves, and a black vest on top of it. Curiously, it parted like a pair of coattails at the top of her stomach, showing her midriff. The girl had on a pair of white shorts, and adorning her legs were a pair of black stockings, though they turned deep violet as they reached her heeled boots. Her color scheme was curiously similar to his own, and by extension that of the Grimm.

Her skin was a little bit darker than that of Vale natives but still considered pale, so he assumed she came from Mistral. Her eyes were narrow in shape and a bright amber in color, reminding the boy of the rare feline Grimm he had encountered. Her bow looked like a pair of cat's ears, as well. She looked like a Cat Faunus, but showed no obvious signs. Shrugging, he dismissed the thought as unimportant for the moment. That was the curse of being the only sapient creature of Grimm. His mind worked on a higher level, and thus he had idle thoughts the same way the other races did. It was a fact he accepted, but it still disgusted him to share any non-physical attributes with these _things_.

After a few minutes lost in his own mind, he vaguely registered that the girl he'd been following was entering a building, presumably the auditorium that the assembly was taking place in. Sure enough, there was a huge cluster of people, mostly humans with just a few Faunus, standing around and wasting space. It was no wonder his fellows hated these species so much; it was clear how much of a plague they were on the world. Noisy, hateful, destructive, petty - the list of their traits could go on and on with no end. They hunted him for being a monster, but they weren't much better. Shiroi just found a corner of the room as far away from the crowd as possible, which wasn't far enough. Just as he began to get comfortable, someone approached him.

It was a tall girl, about six feet. Her hair was a dark red, which made for an oddly pleasing contrast to her emerald eyes. Her skin was very pale, but not the moonlight color of Yang and Ruby. She was wearing a strange piece of bronze-colored armor which left her shoulders and neck exposed. Because the armor didn't quite meet at the midline of her body, she was revealed as having a brown shirt underneath it. She had on a red miniskirt that tightly hugged her thighs, as well as more bronze armor covering most of her legs, including a pair of darker brown high-heeled boots.

She had a few other pieces of gear, mostly accessories. One was a bronze crown, which had a chain hanging down around either ear. Both chains held small green gems, though this green was more like the leaves of a birch. She wore a long, black glove on each hand, and a bronze bracer on her left arm. She had on a large bronze gorget - like a necklace that covered the entire neck - with another small gem in it.

She carried herself better than the others and seemed a bit more ready for battle. She was still pretty soft-hearted, though, with an air of righteousness about her. She didn't look to be very battle-hardened, so despite her warrior looks she had probably never killed anything but his kind before.

She looked like she wanted to talk to him. He didn't mind, exactly, but Grimm naturally detested humans. It was always hard to keep that sentiment from leaking out during conversations, especially since he didn't have all that much experience with social interaction. He sighed, gathered his wits, and decided that avoiding her would be more trouble than it was worth so he may as well hear what she would say.

* * *

The boy that caught Pyrrha's eyes was somehow very different from all of the people around him. Rather than being excited or nervous about attending Beacon like most of them, he seemed to be uneasy in the crowd itself. It was possible that he had claustrophobia. Being the helpful person she was, she approached him with a small smile.

"Hello, are you alright? You seem troubled."

"It's nothing, just all the people. Crowds irritate me."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"You could go away."

That wasn't at all what Pyrrha had expected him to say. It wasn't just rude; the way he said it was somehow malicious.

"E-excuse me? I don't think I heard you right."

"I'll repeat myself, then. I said that you could go away."

"That's. . . a very terrible way to talk to someone."

"Is it? Sorry, I don't interact with people much. They aggravate me to deal with, so I seldom talk outside the necessary. If you would please leave me alone, it would be better for both of us."

Needless to say, Pyrrha was a bit insulted. She had been perfectly polite with this boy, and he just brushed her off as a nuisance. She was a bit hurt, but didn't blame the him. Maybe he was a sheltered child like the Schnee heiress. Pyrrha had met the girl before after one of her matches back in Mistral, and she was a bit difficult to get along with as well.

"Is that so? Alright then, sorry for intruding. My name's Pyrrha, by the way, Pyrrha Nikos. I'll be around if you change your mind."

"Alright, Pyrrha."

As Pyrrha walked away she confirmed one suspicion she had been holding. The boy didn't know her, which was strange. Pretty much everyone in their age group had at least heard her name, even if they had never seen her fight. He didn't so much as react when he heard the name, implying that he really didn't keep up with rumors or news. Which, come to think of it, made sense if he was a reclusive person.

* * *

That went relatively well. Normally Shiroi made enemies when he spoke, but she didn't seem that offended by him. A few minutes went by before Ozpin arrived on stage to give a speech, which didn't concern him much. He was forced to come here, after all; he wasn't in search of anything. He didn't have any goals or ambitions, and he certainly didn't want to protect humanity. He had long since gotten over his hatred of them, since unlike other Grimm he realized he had no real reason to hate the entire race, but he still had no reason to like people or care about their fate.

If anything, he just wanted people to leave him alone. He was a monster, so he didn't blame them for trying to kill him all those years ago, but he had no desire for it to happen again. But humanity wouldn't just let him go, Ironwood especially. That man thought Shiroi could be a great weapon against the Grimm, and would do anything to have him. Not that he cared; Shiroi would fight for Ironwood if he could continue to exist. Besides, his race attacked him as well, since he was a being with a soul. The normal Grimm distinguished humans and Faunus from themselves via the presence of a soul, and so he was lumped in with the other sapient races.

The blonde woman, Glynda Goodwitch if his memory was correct, gave a short announcement about staying in the ballroom for the night. She was an attractive woman, in her late twenties maybe. She had large breasts, and was dressed in conservative clothes compared to many of the students. She carried a long riding crop on her belt, presumably her weapon, and wore a tattered-looking cape on her back. Her top was a long-sleeved white blouse, with a bit cut out at the top, and it was tucked into a black business skirt. She wore black stockings and high-heeled boots. Her hair was done up in a bun with a braid off to the side, and she wore narrow glasses that brought out her bright green eyes.

Shiroi decided that he would be more comfortable sleeping outside than in a room full of sweaty bodies, so when the students headed over to the ballroom, he went up to the roof. It was a cool night, as one would expect in October. The fractured moon lit the nightscape dimly, leaving the eyes free to interpret the world through a lens of uncertainty and imagination. Shiroi liked these nights, though he would have preferred it if the wind wasn't blowing quite so hard. It was fine during the summer, but this time of year it made things too cold for his liking. He'd slept through much worse, though.

He laid out the sleeping bag he'd been provided with and climbed in, but just as he was getting comfortable Shiroi heard the door to the roof open. He looked over to see a girl in a black yukata walking towards him. Was there no end to the people who would bother him today? Well, whatever. He'd just send her off too.

"Can I help you?" he said with obvious ire in his voice.

She was slightly taken aback but didn't take very long to recover. He noticed that it was the same girl he had followed to the assembly. Maybe she had noticed him while he had been daydreaming and was going to ask about it.

"Are you a Faunus?" she asked.

Well, he'd been wrong before, and so it seemed he was again. "No, what would make you think that?"

She vaguely gestured outward, and the message was pretty clear. He had separated himself from all the humans below. It would be easy for wandering eyes to misunderstand his reason for doing it.

"I'm not comfortable around crowds of people. I feel like I'll be attacked," he elaborated.

She nodded, and he asked the question right back at her: "Are you a Faunus? You look like one, what with the bow and your face."

She seemed surprised at the question. She really shouldn't have been since she looked like a cat and was obviously concerned about her "fellow Faunus" being mistreated by the people below. She slowly nodded, realizing that even if she denied her heritage he would know that she was lying.

"Good to know. Now that both of our curiosities have been satisfied, I'd like to get to sleep. Goodnight."

He went back into his sleeping bag, signalling the end of the conversation. She hesitated for a moment, not willing to leave just yet.

"You won't. . . tell anyone, will you?" she asked after a short silence.

"No. I don't care about you. I have no reason to harm you by letting out your secret. Now leave, please." The conversation was grating on his nerves. After all, he didn't know her, and even if he did he wouldn't have cared whether she were human or Faunus. They were both the same to him. Creatures with free will and souls. Creatures that hunted him because of what he was.

She finally left, and he was alone under the bright moon and the darkness of the night as he fell asleep.

* * *

Screams, all around him. People were dead and wounded, bleeding out on the ground. People who had helped him, raised him, cared for him. Now they were dead. His small hands were covered in blood. Their blood. And those who were left were pointing their fingers.

"Demon, devil, monster. Grimm. You are Shiroi Akujin; you are the enemy. You caused this."

He felt fear. Despair. Pain. He began to run, and they hunted him. Twenty six of them, exactly. Spears, swords, instruments of death. They were all pointed at him. He didn't know how long he had been running, but he was tired. So tired. And hungry, and thirsty. But still he ran, because he didn't want to die. He had barely lived; how could he die? How could they kill such a young boy; how could they kill him?

It must be as they said, he must be a monster. That's what the people called him. A demon of darkness, whose sole purpose is to destroy mankind. That's what he was. Covered in bone, they were Shiroi Akujin. They were Grimm. And so was he. He was covered in bone and blood, both his own and that of others. He would live, because that was what what he could do. He would kill, because that was what he had to do. He would hide, because that was what he wanted to do.

The scene changed, and he was no longer the young boy he had been a moment ago. He was in a cave, and there were two podiums, a few feet to either side. On one was a face; it was his own. It was bloody, bruised, and he could see the small scar above his right eye. It was hard to see so it was seldom noticed, even more so when his bangs shifted to cover it. It was crescent-shaped, given to him by one of their weapons.

The other stand held a mask. It was bone white, and looked perfectly fitted for his head. It would cover everything except his eyes. There were glowing red designs on it, which lazily pulsed and flowed, much like blood pumped by a dying heart.

He looked between the two, and after some hesitation he reached toward his face. But it was difficult, so he had to go slowly. He was being repelled, and he heard them. They started off quietly, but quickly rose in volume. They whispered insults, threats. They were in pain, and they wanted him to feel their agony ten fold. They were punishing him for his transgressions. He wasn't human, he knew that, so how could he dare to take a human identity?

He slowly progressed toward the face, but his hand began to take injuries. A cut here, bruising there. His skin began to flay, revealing only muscle. He was screaming out in pain now. Even the red flesh was torn apart, and now he was crying like a babe. It hurt, it hurt so damn much that he felt like he would die from the pain alone. His whole arm was shredded now, and there was little left but bone, covered in blood.

Despite the injuries, he continued to reach. Then a hand grabbed his wrist. The hand was feminine, and it was strong. Much stronger than he could ever be. It faded at the elbow, but he knew who it was. He stopped dead. He cried again, and this time the tears were of sadness rather than pain. He retracted his arm, and his flesh reformed. The pain faded.

He went toward the mask. He was pulled as he got closer. His hand naturally gripped the edge, and he could hear low growls of approval. It felt so natural to the touch, as if it had been made just for him, and it probably had. He put it on his head, and it fused into his features until it was more like an extra layer of skin. He stood there in silence. Blissful, sacred silence. He was a lonely monster, but he was alive and unharmed. No one would ever hurt him again.

 **A little more insight into the past, and his interaction with different characters (obviously not in that order). The boy's fucked up, I know it, and now you have an idea. His backstory will be explained piece by piece. Leave your thoughts and opinions, and hopefully you enjoyed!**


	3. Chapter 3: Day of Initiation

**So if you read Wind Mage, you'll know that I mentioned this chapter having some important info. That would be addressing the concerns that this character is going to be an angsty, emo Sasuke rip-off. It's true that his personality is dark and that he dislikes people. Personally, I like those kind of characters, the ones who, without being outright violent and hateful, embody a darker aspect. In this case, what he desires is isolation as a form of protection. After all, nobody can hurt him if there's nobody around.**

 **Now, that does NOT mean that I like Sasuke or what Kishimoto did with him. What happened there was a character acting so bat-shit insane and stupid that he couldn't see clear truths right in front of him. The curse of hatred, avenger, blah blah blah. I will never, swear on my life, write a Sasuke-esque character. That was a downward spiral that doesn't make much logical sense. You do one of three things with a dark character: You redeem them, you turn them into a villain, or you have them destroy themselves. No matter which you do, there has to be more than just angst and anger, though the true character may be hidden underneath the underneath. Kishimoto, I feel, tried to do all three. It isn't impossible, but Sasuke just wasn't given the depth of character for it. Even if he had been, it is a very hard thing to convincingly pull off.**

 **So, that's my rant. I won't say exactly what I'm going to do with Akujin, but I won't be trying to pull off multiple objectives, as I am not building him in such a way in the first place. Now for reviews.**

 **xbox432: Glad you're liking it so far, and happy that you gave this story a chance as well. His power is like Kimimaro's, though that's not where I pulled inspiration from originally. He'll have a much different fighting style, though.**

 **garoorar: I understand your concern and hope the above rant eases your fears a bit. I do see what you're saying about the main character's mindset being a bit hard to relate to, and I'll write with that in mind. Not changing anything, but I'll maybe be getting the outsider perspective on him more often. As for his name, I address that in this chapter to a certain extent, though I do see your point. Remember that it is a phrase though, not a name given to him by parents or anything, so it would make sense to use an adjective rather than a noun form for the word "white," and I was aware of this when writing it.**

 **Aside from that, they chapter is slightly lighter than the last one, and I'd like to know what everyone thinks.**

Shiroi woke up covered in sweat. He turned on his Scroll to see it was five in the morning, much earlier that he had to be up. Well, whatever. He didn't have to report to the cliffs until ten, so he'd dedicate some time to training. Having spent quite some time outside of civilization had taught him just how important it was to keep his body in good shape. If you were unfit when animals or Grimm attacked you would be in serious danger. There was very little chance of survival if you couldn't defend yourself.

His routine began with a run of five kilometers. Well, somewhere around that much, since he didn't have any way of measuring the distance. Maybe there was a pedometer on his Scroll; he'd experiment with it later. For now he'd just run until he got as tired as he normally would.

After completing his cardio, he took a ten minute break to rehydrate and rest before resuming. When his break was over, he dropped to the ground and did a set of twenty push-ups, before doing the same in sit-ups. He alternated sets until he had done both exercises a total of one hundred times each. He took another rest, this time for five minutes, before finding a tree with sturdy enough limbs to do pull-ups on, of which he did fifty. The routine also included fifty squats, about twenty minutes of balance training, and thirty reps of each of a suite of basic moves on the trees, including various forms of punches and kicks, as well as elbow and knee strikes.

At the end of it all he was a bit winded. He was decently strong, but he was by no means superhuman. The fact that he gave himself very little recovery time was also to blame, but he had made this regime in such a way that no muscle would be excessively sore. It would do him absolutely no good if he was attacked right after his workout and he was too tired to fight back. Besides, this exercise wasn't meant to push him to his limits, it was just to keep him sharp.

Even after his workout and some time to recover, Shiroi still had well over three hours to kill before the initiation exam. He'd want to take a shower before that, though, and he was a fan of long showers. When you lived in the wild, you could take as long as you wanted. Especially since his showers during that period of life had doubled as training. The only way to shower was to either make a rig of some kind to transport the water, or to stand under a waterfall, and he didn't have the engineering knowledge for the former option.

So he gave himself just over half an hour for that. Still, he had nothing to do for quite some time. Well, he figured that breakfast and some exploration would be able to fill up the rest of the time. With those thoughts in mind, he decided that now would actually be a good time to get that shower in. After all, it was early enough that most people wouldn't be awake.

* * *

Blake and Ruby had both woken up early this particular morning. Blake was an early riser by nature, though that was just because cats had a habit of not sleeping for as long at one time, but rather took several naps each day. She tended to get the same amount of sleep as humans, but it wasn't apparent to others. She just slept when she didn't have anything better to do, and most people didn't notice when she dozed off.

Ruby, on the other hand, rarely got up this early. She was having a hard time staying asleep in a room with so many people; social awkwardness would do that to a girl. This was actually the third time she'd woken up, but now she had decided that she was going to stay up. After all, people would start waking up within the hour anyway.

The girls met up as they walked toward the showers and silently nodded their greetings. They entered the locker room, which attached at the back to the showers. Each grabbed a towel and a change of clothes before heading toward the door to the showering area. They were surprised to hear a valve closing, indicating that someone had finished. The door to the men's side opened as Shiroi stepped out, wearing absolutely nothing.

Both girls were frozen in place when they saw him. It was the natural reaction to seeing a young man walk not even ten feet away from you while both stark naked and uncaring about the former fact. Blake was stunned by the sheer balls that took, and also his looks. She had barely seen him on the roof, and now she was seeing MUCH more than she had ever imagined. He was well-muscled all over, though it was a lean build. He was the type who had a frame balancing speed and power, and looked damn good because of it. She had to admit that she allowed her gaze to linger just a bit too long on his crotch, and mentally reprimanded herself for it.

Unlike the older girl, Ruby had taken to blocking her vision with her hands. She did NOT want to see that first thing in the morning. Not that she didn't find him somewhat attractive, but she wasn't that kind of girl.

Shortly after they saw Shiroi enter, he went to a locker and pulled out a change of clothes. Blake, once he was finally decent, decided to approach him about it.

"What was that about?"

The boy just tilted his head, not seeming to understand what the issue was.

"You just walked out completely naked, and Ruby may be mentally scarred now," she elaborated.

"So?" he said in a perfectly innocent tone. He really had no idea that what he'd done was unusual.

"What would you have done if everyone had been here? You'd be labeled as a pervert."

Shiroi, for his part, seemed completely unfazed. "I'm called much worse all the time. If I still cared what humans and Faunus called me I wouldn't be alive today. On top of that, creatures of Grimm have no need of shame, since we're always naked. I wear clothing only to fit in and to protect my body, not because I have anything to hide."

Blake didn't know what to say to that. She didn't know what the deal was with him calling himself a Grimm, but the actual logic wasn't something she could argue against. Besides, she was a seventeen year-old girl who read the Ninjas of Love series on a regular basis. It wasn't like she had never been exposed to the male body before before. It was unexpected, sure, but didn't hurt anybody.

"Well, goodbye," said Shiroi when she stopped speaking. If these two were up, then the rest would likely funnel in soon as well. Besides, the dining hall was open and he was hungry.

Once he left, Blake went back over to Ruby to let the girl know that the boy was gone and that she could stop covering her eyes. The two made a silent promise not to bring this up again, at least not until the shock wore off.

* * *

Shiroi was a bit irritated to find the dining hall was already quite full. However, food was more important that his distaste for crowds, so he grabbed a large plate of pancakes and sat down at one of the more open tables. Just as he was about to dig in, he saw a hand swipe the plate out from in front of him. He jerked his head in the direction of the thief, and was surprised to see a short, ginger-haired girl. She was wearing a white top, with a heart cut out at the top of her chest, and a pink skirt. On her hands were fingerless pink gloves, and disconnected white sleeves covered her arms.

His astonishment only grew as the girl scarfed down the stack of pancakes within seconds. He was still incredibly annoyed, but that was impressive. Sitting next to her was a boy, taller than Shiroi himself, who noticed the red-eyed teen's mood and apologized.

"Sorry about Nora. She has an addiction to pancakes, and doesn't really think before acting."

"Maybe you should keep her on a leash, then," Shiroi replied. The boy he was speaking to was a fair bit taller than himself, with a scrawy build. Well, not scrawny, feminine was more like it. He did seem to have muscle, it was just hard to notice. The boy had bright pink eyes, and his black hair had a pink streak that matched them. He was wearing a green, Chinese-style shirt.

"We've tried that. And a chain. Neither of of them worked."

Nora took the ensuing moment of silence to release a loud and unladylike burp, which Shiroi saw as his signal to get something else to eat. He came back with a bowl of oat cereals with various pieces of fruit in it. He figured that as long as it wasn't pancakes he would be able to keep it, and he was right. Nora didn't make the slightest attempt to steal it, and so he just ate the rest of the meal while blocking out the girl's incessent chatter. Seriously, he disliked humans, but even he had to feel sorry for the other boy, whose name he heard to be Ren during Nora's monolouge.

That pity wasn't enough to bother helping the young man, however. So after finishing his meal, Shiroi walked out, content to spend the rest of the time until the initiation in solitude. He spotted Ruby and her sister talking animatedly on his way out, but the conversation died as he passed them. Ruby passed through a few shades of pink when she spotted him, and Yang gave him a wary look. At least it wasn't outright hostility, he thought to himself. Passing them, he left the room and went to the forest for some relaxation.

* * *

At ten exactly, Shiroi walked out of the woods and onto one of the large, square plates decorating the cliffside that overlooked the Emerald Forest. It was a beautiful stretch of land, covered by towing oaks and maples for a couple dozen square miles. Too bad it was also covered in Grimm.

Now that everyone was present, Ozpin began to explain the conditions of the test.

"Welcome, students. Today's initiation exam will determine whether you have the skills to become true Huntsmen and Huntresses. The setting for the test will be the Emerald Forest below."

Glynda, the tall and imposing vice-Headmistress of Beacon, intergected: "There have been rumors circulating about the placement of teams, so allow me to clear up any confusion. You will be assigned teammates. . . today, during the exam."

There were mixed reactions to that statement. Some, like Shiroi, didn't seem to care at all. Others, such as one Ruby Rose, were worried about the outcome. Either way, it didn't seem like they'd have much control over who they worked with.

Ozpin picked up where his assistant left off. "You will have these partners for the rest of your time here at Beacon, so it is in your best interest to find someone with whom you work well. That being said, the first person you make eye contact with will be you partner."

Shiroi lifted an eyebrow. It seemed like a very odd way of selecting teams, but he didn't see any additional problems coming from it. Yet, anyway.

"Additionally, we have a special case this year. We happen to have an extra student, making it impossible to create all of the teams with the normal number of four members. As such, one student has been selected to be part of a larger team. So, whoever locks eyes with Shiroi Akujin will have him as a partner, but will also have one additional partner for a total of three people."

Shit. It was already going to be draining on him to deal with the normal sized team, and now he's being forced to deal with an extra person. 'Oum,' Shiroi thought, 'do you have something against Grimm, despite us being your creations?'

"Once the pairs, and triple, have been formed, you are to head to the northern end of the forest. There you will find a temple, within which is a set of relics. Each group is to take one and return to the top of the cliff. I warn you all, however, that you will face opposition. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path. . . or you will die. Are there any questions?"

Shiroi was the first to speak up. "You do mean anything at all, correct? Even if it is not Grimm that are hindering us?"

Ozpin narrowed his eyes at the problem child he'd taken in. "What are you insinuating, young man?"

The boy didn't back down in the slightest. "If my teammates slow me down or get in my way, are they included in that order?"

There was a tense staring contest between the two, and some of the less confident students paled at the idea of being partnered with the feral boy. Among them was Jaune Arc, a noodle of a boy with blonde hair and blue eyes. He was just over six feet tall but lacked the muscle that would have made him intimidating, or at least respectable.

Ozpin was the one to break the silence. "You are free to abandon your comrades, though I wouldn't suggest it, but under no circumstances may you harm them. Do I make myself clear, Mr. Akujin?"

"Yes. By the way, why does everyone call me by only part of my name?"

That confused everybody, even those who were breathing a sigh of relief at knowing they wouldn't be attacked by their year-mate.

"What do you mean?" asked Ruby, who happened to be standing right next to him.

"What I mean is that I only have one name, Shiroi Akujin, and it's more of a title than an actual name. I have no family name like people do."

"That's kind of a mouthful, though, isn't it?" Ruby countered.

Shiroi just shrugged. He didn't accept the title because it was easy to say, and he really didn't care what he was called. He had just been curious as to why people didn't use the complete wording, because it was a phrase rather than disconnected words.

Ozpin, sensing that they were rather off topic, brought everyone back to reality. "Now, everyone, take your positions and prepare you landing strategies."

One by one students began to fly off the cliff, though Jaune was unaware of this fact. "Um, Ozpin sir, I have a question. This 'landing strategy' thing, are you going to be dropping us off?"

Ozpin gained an amused grin but quickly regained his calm facade. "No, you will be falling."

"Oh. Did you hand out parachutes before I got here, or. . ."

"No, you will be using your own strategy."

Jaune gulped as he noticed that most of the students had already been sent off, and within seconds he was the only one left.

'Oh no,' he thought as he flew into the air, screaming like a little girl.

Ozpin settled into a relaxed stance and took a sip of coffee, simply enjoying his work. He really did love to see them go shooting through the sky like that; it was very stress-relieving, and he'd had more than enough stress for one day already.

 **Well, this chapter had some light humor and awkwardness, and I hope it answered some things. May or may not change up the team dynamics, not sure yet. If you have a strong opinion either way, you know what to do. Review, and thank you all for reading.**


	4. Chapter 4: Grimm v Grimm

**Been a little while since I've updated this one, but here it is. Most of this AN note is a response to GJO1088, just a notice.**

 **sarinman: Thanks for the support, it really means a lot when this story has so few readers. I appreciate it.**

 **GJO1088: Shrioi's powers, though almost identical to Kimimaro's, is actually a powered-down version of my own favorite ability. It's the ability to manipulate one's own body completely. This would allow a person to strengthen their skeletal and muscular systems, change their appearance, enhance their metabolism, rapidly regenerate tissue, and so many other things that require complex scientific explanations. Essentially, strength and healing abilities far beyond human levels. I've applied that concept to just his bones because the expanded ability would be way too OP for the RWBYverse.**

 **Now, as for your story idea: I think it could work quite well. Just remember a few things. Make sure you have a clear personality set up from all directions; leave no part of his character blank. Have a development arc in mind when writing, because nobody likes a completely static character. Even Kazuma, while remaining a smartass, becomes more human as the story goes on. Also, since you are using an entity from Bleach, will there be any other Bleach characters, Quincies, Hollows, etc? Either way is fine, just plan out the interaction. And, as with anything, proofread. I found that the last chapter of this story had quite a few typos, so I must have skipped that step lol. Overall, I think you should go for it. You have one reader right here, and once you have a few chapters up I'd be happy to do a little advertising for you. Good luck!**

Shiroi flew through the air with a grace which contradicted his rough attitude. This was not the first time he'd fallen from the sky, and it would not likely be the last. He was about fifty feet above the treeline and falling fast. After just a few seconds he was level with the tops of the tallest trees, crashing through branches as he went.

After a moment he found a thicker, sturdier branch which could support his weight. Grabbing on to it in midair, he swung around and launched himself at another, similar branch. He repeated the process with this one and a third before dropping to the ground, now having virtually zero momentum. His hands stung from scraping against the bark, but it was a small price to pay compared to the bruising he could have gotten otherwise.

He had seen the temple from the air, so he began walking to its location to the northwest. It didn't take long for the first obstacle to appear in his path in the form of an Ursa Major. The creature was big, mean, and it was trained on Shiroi. As were most Grimm, actually, considering the negative emotions the young man put off. To this Ursa, he must look like a perfectly grilled filet mignon.

Shiroi, however, was not looking to become this creature's next kill. Despite knowing himself to be a Grimm, he had no respect for his fellows. They were mindless killing machines, not understanding that if they attacked humanity, they could be hunted until extinction. The only thing preventing that was the amazing rate at which new Grimm were created.

The Ursa swiped a claw directly at Shiroi's head. He ducked and moved in closer to the Ursa, within reach but still far enough away that he wouldn't be trapped. The beast came down on him with its entire body, going from the two-legged attacking position to all fours. He rolled to the side, right next to the creature's head. Shiroi thrust a palm into the creature's temple, a strike which would usually do little to deter the beast, even with a pulse of Aura. Strangely enough, however, the Ursa stopped moving. A few seconds later, it began to fade into dust as all Grimm would when killed.

Satisfied with the work he'd done, the boy continued walking into the dense forest, fully aware of the dozens of red, glowing eyes he attracted.

* * *

Meanwhile, a red blur was shooting through the forest, heading to Oum knows where. It couldn't be the temple, which was in quite a different direction, but the red-hooded girl had no way of knowing that. She was far more concerned with other matters.

'Okay, who can I work with? There's Yang, of course, but what if I don't find her? Oh, how about Blake? She's cool, mysterious, and she seems like a good fighter. But she's a bit anti-social. . . How about Jaune? He's nice, and funny. But I don't think he'd be very good in a fight. Let's see, there's Yang, Blake, Jaune. . . Weiss. Can I work with Weiss? She doesn't like me much, but I REALLY want to get along with her. Maybe if I prove myself in a fight, I can at least get some respect from her. Hmm, the only other person I know is. . .'

Her train of thought was stopped on the tracks when she saw something extremely eerie in the clearing ahead. There was a circle of Grimm, but not a single one had noticed her yet. They were all looking inward, about two dozen of them total. It wasn't uncommon for Grimm to circle their prey but the creature in the middle of the group didn't look even remotely human. From her vantage point on a nearby hill, she could see that it was somewhat grotesque, in fact.

It had a humanoid frame, but it was down on four legs. The thing's body was covered in bones. From each side of the sternum sprouted eight rib-like bones, which wrapped around the entire chest, crossed and descended down the back, and met again in front of the abdomen. On the outside of each arm were two beveled sheets of bone, one for each of the forearms and the upper arms. These plates had small spikes, curved backwards. They reminded Ruby of some sword-catching hilts present on older weapons.

His legs were similarly arrayed, but without the spikes. The hands were protected by thinner plates on the backs and the palms, as well as skeletal backings for each finger. At the end of the fingers were claws, about an inch and a half long, curved and with serrated edges. The feet were also protected, but had no claws. The shoulders and neck were heavily defended but used smaller, overlapping plates to retain mobility.

All of this was slightly disturbing in the same way a skeleton might be, but the head brought the figure into the realm of nightmares. Linked to the neck armor was a skull. It was vaguely human, and the creature's face, if it had one underneath the skull, was covered up. The jaws bore a row of vicious teeth, made for ripping. A pair of upward-curved horns sprouted from the temples, much like a bull's.

Worst of all were the eyes. They burned red, similar to those of the many Grimm around the figure, but they were much deeper in color. If the eyes of the Grimm were likened to blood, these were molten rubies. And unlike the Grimm's, these eyes held an emotion. Whatever this being was, it could feel, and what it felt was not hate or anger. It felt fear and pain.

From where she was standing, Ruby could tell that the thing in the middle was outmatched. It was wounded, with blood dripping down its side. A Beowolf tried to slash at it but failed to break the creature's guard when it raised its arm to block. The Beowolf lost a large portion of its head to the other beast's claws a moment later. The survivor rushed toward one of the other Beowolves and impaled it through the chest with its entire forearm, then ripped it back out.

An Ursa tried to take advantage of the opponent's momentary stillness but was punished with a kick to the head, proving that the unknown creature was humanoid and could move as such, stunning the bear Grimm and allowing the enemy to kill it with a slash across the chest.

That was the end of the humanoid being's luck when a King Taijitu's head bit down on one of its legs. It let out a scream of pain, muffled by the skull but still very much audible, before striking the snake's eye with a palm. The eye exploded outward, killing that head, but the other was coming at the wounded humanoid with jaws wide open.

The bleeding creature looked back, but was far too late. By the time it can react, the snake would eat it. The creature screamed again, this time in defiance as the jaws were about to close, a strangely human sound. But the jaws didn't pierce flesh. The creature didn't die. Instead, standing behind the dissolving head of the Taijitu was a girl of fifteen, wearing a red hood and holding a large, mechanical scythe.

"Don't worry!" she said to the creature. She had used her Speed Semblance to intercept the snake Grimm, cutting off the head and finally killing it. She wasn't quite sure what this bone-covered thing was, but it was fighting the Grimm and it obviously felt pain. She couldn't stand the agony in that voice when she heard it, and had come running over to help. There was no way Ruby would let anyone, human or not, die if she could help it.

The crowd of Grimm were surprised by the new fighter, but only for a moment. Seeing that their enemy was not yet dead, the whole pack descended upon the two. Ruby managed to cleave through about three of the Grimm by spinning her scythe in a circle as her strange ally torn apart another few. Barely two minutes later the duo had killed every Grimm in the clearing, as well as a few that had entered the battle later.

"Whew, that's the last of them. It's alright, you're safe now, friend," Ruby reassured. She didn't know if the being standing in front of her could understand the words, but either way she was cheerful. After all, not many people could brag about killing more than twenty Grimm alongside a mysterious beast.

". . . Thanks, I guess," said the creature.

Startled, Ruby looked at the being in awe. "You can talk?"

"Well, yeah. You should know that already."

"Huh?" the girl returned. The voice sounded somewhat familiar, but was still muffled by the skull helmet.

"Right, I sometimes forget that humans have a hard time recognizing me with my Semblance active."

At this statement, the bones covering the body of the creature began to be absorbed into its skin. The ribs separated and twisted back into the chest, the skin on the legs and arms was exposed, and the claws sank into the fingers. The last thing to disappear was the skull, revealing a familiar face and a shock of pitch black hair.

"Shiroi! How, what, why?" Ruby questioned.

"I'm Grimm, Ruby. My Semblance reflects what I truly am by giving me control over the bones in my body to use as armor and weapons, as well as letting me absorb any bone I come in contact with."

He hadn't wanted anyone to see this so soon, but it didn't matter. Soon he'd either be hunted again, now that there was proof of what he was, or turned into a weapon against Grimm like Ironwood had wanted. He was just waiting to see the girl's reaction to his transformation. If she attacked, he'd catch her by surprise with one of his favorite moves. It was a simple but effective technique: He thrust out his palm and, right before the impact, a spiral of bone erupted, drilling into the target. He could reinforce this with Aura if he so chose, which would follow the spiralling and do even further damage as it passed through whatever he hit.

Ruby's face was frozen for a moment in this. . . completely blank stare that creeped him out a bit. Then she smiled wide and jumped onto him.

"That is so cool! You were like 'Bring it on!' and the Grimm were like 'It's on!' and you destroyed those Beowolves, and that Ursa, and the King Taijitu's head practically exploded!"

Ok, now he was unnerved. He was not used to anyone being this happy-go-lucky after seeing that form. Usually people either ran away in fear or, if they were trained Huntsmen, attacked him. Instead, this crazy girl was jumping all over him as if she could still see his bones if she looked hard enough.

He grabbed Ruby and put her on the ground in front of him. "You think that my Semblance is cool?" he asked incredulously.

"Well, yeah. It's like you have built-in weapons! You could make anything out of bone, right? Like a spear, or a sword, oh! Can you make a gun?"

Shiroi was far too dazed from the girl's reaction to tell her off or make an insulting remark. "No, but I can make projectiles," he said as he pointed his index finger at a tree. A sharpened version of his fingertip shot out, embedding itself deep into the wood.

"Awesomeeee!" she shouted. "Can you make it spin like a bullet? It would increase the penetrating power and the accuracy several fold. Oh, and what about barbs? But the Grimm wouldn't try to take the spikes out, so that's kinda pointless. . ." Shiroi listened in shock as the weird, weapon savvy girl listed off modifications he could make to his projectiles so they would be even more lethal.

Once his brain caught up with the rest of him, he felt like doing something he hadn't even attempted in a long time. It started out as a low rumble in his chest, and soon grew to a violent shaking of his entire body, before a deep, bellowing laughter came from his throat. Ruby stopped her chatter once she heard it, a sound which just seemed to fit him. It wasn't a cruel laughter or one of amusement. He was relieved. This girl in front of him was treating him, a creature of Grimm, so differently than anyone ever had. It was refreshing. He didn't have to hide this time, or bloody his hands even more. He could just exist. She didn't deny him the privilege of life like everyone else had.

"What's so funny?" Ruby asked without a hint of annoyance. She was innocently curious as to what her new partner - she hadn't forgotten the rules of the test - was laughing at.

"Nothing, weapon freak. That was just far too strange. Come on, we're going to have to stick together now, so let's get going to the temple. I have an idea of where it is from here."

Ruby pouted at the jab but allowed her teammate to lead the way. A few seconds later, however, he began to sway and the hooded girl had to catch him.

"What's wrong?" she asked in alarm.

With the adrenaline fading and his mind back on track, he could finally feel the pain of his injuries again, and the blood loss was starting to make him a little dizzy. "Lost a little too much blood. Let's rest for a minute." Ruby nodded her assent and sat him down with his back against a tree. First she would patch him up, then after a small rest they would move forward.

 **So we see what happens when you are able to look past appearance and see that someone is really just a person. A delusional and mentally scarred person, but a person with a mind and a soul all the same. Well, there's that character development. Review if you liked it, and if you didn't oh well. Have a good day/afternoon/evening!**


	5. Chapter 5: Blooming of a White Rose

**Here we go again!**

 **Thorfaxdragonkin: Oh no, this character is my own. Not that pulling influences is bad, it's what every fanfic writer does, but Shiroi has more tricks up his sleeve than any of the beings on that list (though in terms of power he'd still be less than them, excluding the necromorph, maybe). And Ruby just makes people smile, like puppies or babies. She's just so damn innocent!**

 **Well, not much to say on this one. Hope you enjoy!**

It was only about five minutes before the pair moved again. Shiroi had been fighting continuously since the beginning of the test, so he was a bit exhausted, but that didn't stop him from moving. He had a lot of willpower and had fought much longer in the past. The major problem was the fact that his leg had a fairly large hole in it, making it hard to walk. As a temporary measure he'd bound it with material from his jeans, but all that did was stop the bleeding. He still required Ruby's assistance to walk properly, so they were significantly slower than planned.

In the course of their walk they encountered a somewhat strange sight. The Schnee heiress was pacing around a clearing, occasionally walking off in one direction only to return moments later. When the pair entered the clearing (because Shiroi couldn't have moved through the thicker brush around it) she finally noticed them.

Her pale blue eyes grew wide as she saw two of the people she least wanted to be around. "Oh no. This is not happening. Oum, what have I done to deserve this?"

This caused Shiroi's face, which had softened a bit while walking with his new. . . friend? Yeah, his friend. Anyway, his face became the former impassive mask he usually wore. Ruby was a safe person, but this girl was a stranger, which was equivalent to a potential enemy in his mind.

"What's that mean?" Ruby asked, pouting at the treatment Weiss was showing them.

"It may mean that I seem to be stuck with a happy-go-lucky child," she quipped. "And that man on your shoulder is a danger to the both of us. I suggest you leave him while he's injured, rather than risk him putting a knife in one of our backs."

Ruby was visibly offended while Shiroi's expression was unreadable. "What? How could I leave Shiro behind! He's so cool!"

The boy on her shoulder furrowed his brows and gave the red-hooded girl a questioning look. "Shiro?"

"The 'i' at the end is kind of hard to say, so I dropped it. You don't like it?"

He shrugged as well as he could in his current state. "As I've said, what you call me isn't very concerning. Besides, all you did was turn the word from an adjective to a noun. The meaning stays the same."

"Alright, Shiro it is then!" Ruby threw up her fist to punctuate the exclamation. Weiss was just looking between the two with clear suspicion on her face. Noticing, the renamed Shiro spoke up.

"I have no reason to hurt you, Weiss Schnee, unless you attack me first. Even then, I'm injured. What harm can I do at the moment?" He knew he could easily kill the girl if he wanted, even in this state, but he would much rather she believe him to be harmless. It made the whole situation easier. Besides, rules were rules: he was her partner now, along with Ruby.

"Humph!" the heiress returned. "I suppose you have a point. Just don't slow me down too much, brute."

With that she began walking off in a random direction. "Shiro," Ruby asked. "Didn't you say the temple was to the northwest of here?"

"I did."

"And what direction did she just go?"

"Due south, I think."

Ruby set her partner down against a tree and waited. About thirty seconds later the girl in white reentered the clearing, visibly annoyed. Grunting, Shiro took the initiative by limping in the correct direction, and Ruby immediately followed and ducked under his arm so as to support him. Weiss charged ahead of them, "taking control" of the group.

It took the group about another twenty-five minutes to reach the clearing which contained the temple. They would have been there sooner if there hadn't been a large pack of Beowolves in the way, which the pair had epicly failed to take out. When they arrived, however, they were not greeted with the most casual of scenes. Currently, there was an Ursa lying on the ground, a Giant Nevermore was circling in the sky, and Pyrrha was being chased by a Deathstalker of considerable size. Also present were Blake and Yang, as well as two others whom Shiro and Ruby had yet to really meet, though they had seen the people in passing. Oh, and Jaune was stuck in a tree, so there was that.

"Just what is happening here?" Weiss demanded from the nearest people, who just so happened to be Blake and Yang.

"Honestly? I don't even know anymore," Blake answered. Yang realized her sister was behind the snotty princess, and ran to hug her. Of course, this caused Shiro to be dropped to the ground, which forced him to hold his injured leg in pain.

"Ruby! I'm so glad you're safe!"

"Yang. . . crushing," Ruby managed to get out. The blonde seemed to understand as she hastily backed off.

"So, your partner is Weiss, huh? That's _cool_."

Ruby groaned at the pun before expanding. "Actually, Shiro's my partner too. That triple partner thing, remember?"

"Wait, Shiro? You mean. . ." It was at this point when she first registered the feral-looking teen lying on the ground. "Oh no. This is not happening. Ruby, you are not teaming up with this psycho, no matter what Ozpin said."

This sparked the most violent reaction Ruby had displayed yet. "Why does everyone think so badly of him? Yeah, he's a little weird, but so am I! I watched him fight off a huge pack of Grimm, alone and injured. I heard him laugh, saw him in pain. He's a person, Yang, and he's my partner now!"

Everyone (besides Pyrrha who was slightly preoccupied and Nora who was. . . well Nora) openly gaped at the young girl's outburst. Ruby had a slight temper on her, yeah. But this? This was a new one even to Yang, and they were sisters Oum damn it.

Shiro, after hearing her words, propped himself up on one of the temple's pillars. "Thanks, Ruby, I appreciate that. But you're wrong. I do feel pain and fear, and even a few positive emotions from time to time. But I'm not like you. Emotions make me no less of a monster."

Now everyone was just confused. He could call himself a monster, even after Ruby defended him? That was very weird. They didn't have much time to dwell, however, as a familiar redhead was blown away from the scorpion Grimm and landed in front of them. Yang was the first to snap out of the collective surprise, and of course she used the opportunity for a bit of gallows humor.

"Well, the gang's all here. Now we can die together!"

"Not if I can help it!" Ruby exclaimed. She opened Crescent Rose and shot off toward the Deathstalker, but her slashing charge did next to nothing against the creature's armored shell. "Don't worry, totally fine," she assured them. Recovering from her own failed attack, she fired a few shots but they had no noticeable effect. The red-themed girl ultimately gave up and began running back to the group.

It was not to be, however, as the Nevermore rained down a hail of black feathers onto the battlefield. As it turned out, Ruby had covered quite a large amount of distance with her dash, and now her cloak was pinned down on one of the feathers. Yang attempted to reach her, but she was too far away and the Deathstalker Ruby was retreating from was right on top of her. It seemed to the group as if Ruby would be skewered.

There was a flash of white, crossing the distance between the group and Ruby in a mere moment. The next thing anyone knew, Weiss was standing next to Ruby and the Deathstalker had a claw and its stinger stuck in a wall of ice.

"You are so childish," was the only thing Ruby heard. She had been preparing for the coming blow, eyes closed and arms raised. She recognised the voice and opened her eyes to confirm that, yes, Weiss was in front of her. "and dimwitted, and hyperactive, and don't even get me started on your fighting style. And I suppose I can be a bit. . . difficult, but if we're going to make this partnership work, we're going to have to work together as partners should. So if you quit trying to show off, I'll be. . . nicer."

"I'm not trying to show off," Ruby explained. "I want you to know I can do this."

"You're fine." Weiss walked off as Ruby let out a sigh of relief and unhooked her cloak from the feather.

Once the whole group returned, they came together to form a plan of action.

"Guys, that thing's circling back. What are we gonna do?" Jaune raised a valid concern.

"Look, there's no sense in dilly-dallying. Out target's right in front of us," Weiss countered. If they didn't have to fight, they shouldn't.

"No go," Ruby denied. "Shiro's injured. He may be able to walk and fight to some extent, but there's no way he can outrun the Deathstalker." Everyone reluctantly nodded. Yang, Weiss, and Pyrrha had somewhat lower views on the boy, and Jaune was outright scared of him, but they all agreed that he shouldn't be left for dead out here.

"Instead, we should split into two teams. Blake, Yang, you two come with me and Weiss to take out the Nevermore," she continued. "Pyrrha, Jaune, Nora, and Ren. You four stay here and hold off the Deathstalker. You don't have to kill it, but keep it occupied until we can come back. Then we'll finish it together. I'm leaving Shiro's safety in your hands."

Everyone nodded. The plan, while not ideal, was solid. Nobody else had anything better, anyway. The four girls retreated to the edge of the woods, and the giant bird Grimm followed. So far, so good. The remaining five readied themselves for combat, Shiro included. He was injured, not disabled. So long as he didn't have to dodge and weave, he'd be able to inflict some damage.

The Deathstalker finally broke free from the ice prison, and began charging at the four fresh warriors. Jaune did what he could to direct the others while they pelted it with bullets and aimed for weak points, but their lighter ammo was having little effect. Even Nora's grenades did little more than stagger it. That's when he noticed Shiro pelting the creature with something other than Dust ammo. Whatever he was doing, it was leaving small pits in the bone armor. He signalled a retreat, and all of the fighters drew back to Shiro's position by the temple.

"What are you using, Shiro?" Jaune asked. He was answered when a spike came out of the younger boy's finger.

"My Semblance is manipulation of bone. I can make weapons out of my skeleton and re-absorb bone I touch." That last part was of particular interest to the blonde knight-wannabe.

"Any bone you touch?" Nora was still pelting the Grimm to keep it from approaching quickly, so she didn't hear it, but Pyrrha and Ren frowned at their friend's question, having no idea what he was getting at.

"Well, I've done it to animal skeletons, so in theory." Shiro wasn't sure where this was going either, but he could see that the other boy had an idea.

"So if you got in contact with the Deathstalker's armor, do you think that would work?"

The two listeners were shocked. That plan was beyond reckless, but it just might work. Shiro nodded. Honestly, he's never tried absorbing another Grimm's armor, but he was a Grimm and he could absorb his own separated bones. So the idea itself was founded.

"Alright, we'll try to lure it over here. Be ready to take that armor off as soon as it's within reach." He nodded his head toward Nora, who was almost out of grenades, and all three mobile fighters rushed out. Nora was thankful for the reprieve and turned her weapon into its hammer form. The team used slashes to direct the bug's attention toward them, before moving back and allowing another member to do the same. It was simple and very effective.

They were slowing delivering the Deathstalker to Shiro, who had created thick bone armor all over his body. He didn't need mobility right now, so what he built resembled platemail, though the helmet was nothing more than a hood of bone. A full mask always gave people an image of what he really was, so he'd rather not do that when he was around people. Ruby was one thing, but the others were still untrustable.

As soon as they were close enough to Shiro, the distraction team sprinted a few yards behind him. They were close enough to react and go in for the kill, but far enough to escape if something went south. The Deathstalker had its side to the armored boy, and he touched it as soon as he could reach. It tried to knock him away with a claw, but he sent branching spikes of bone into the earth to root him in place. He was practically immovable right now.

As his skin made contact with the white covering of the scorpion, the bone became fluid and was drained into his body, reinforcing his own bones far beyond their current density. This only made his armor stronger as this massive creature of Grimm tried to crush him and stab him. His armor was just too thick, much like the Staker's had been a minute before. Soon, the last of the bone armor was absorbed, leaving the body of the creature undefended. The claws and tail were still armored, since those plates weren't connected, but it didn't matter. Shots rained down on the black-fleshed being as Jaune's squad concentrated their fire on its weak points, such as the eyes.

Shiro, however, wasn't content. This thing had tried to kill Ruby. For some reason, that invoked an emotion he rarely, if ever, felt anymore. Anger. He got annoyed to the point where it was almost his default state, but he couldn't recall the last time it could be described as true anger. He was angry that this scum of a Grimm had even attempted that. It deserved to die, and he wanted to be the one to kill it. So he prepared his favorite move, except this time he had a slightly different image in his mind. Rather than a simple drill, he would make the experience incredibly painful. Well, he wasn't sure if this thing felt pain, but he wanted to imagine so.

The others held their fire as they saw Shiro going in for the kill. And what they saw was slightly repulsive. His palm slammed into the Deahtstaker's side, and the others saw bones _bloom_ from the creature's body. There were petals coming out of it. White, hard, deadly petals. And they were dyed red, bloody red. Shiro had sent his own, now super compact, bone into the Grimm. And it had exploded in a mess of red blood and black mist.

Shiro withdrew his hand and absorbed all of the bone, excluding that which was used to make the rose itself. That would stay. "A white rose," he muttered, "dyed in blood. Interesting." The others approached him with a mix of awe and concern.

"Not that it wasn't effective, but don't you think that may have been a bit too. . ." Ren attempted.

"Brutal?" Pyrrha suggested, earning her nods from Ren and Jaune.

Shiro shrugged off their concern, feeling oddly satisfied by what he'd done. "Honestly, I have no clue as to whether these lower forms of Grimm even feel pain, nor would I usually care. In this case, however, I hope it did. That would make it worth the effort."

 **And the character development takes simultaneous leaps and wrong turns! He gains some ability to care about others, but oh boy does he not know where society draws the line. BTW, Grimm blood is indeed red if the Giant Nevermore in Volume 3 is any example. There is a clear blood spurt when Ren stabs it in the eye. Well, bye for now.**


	6. Chapter 6: Formation

**So, I had wanted to get this out a few days ago, and needless to say that didn't happen. But I did the next best thing and made sure that this story got some much-needed attention over the past few days.**

 **Also, a few people have wondered about what happens when he absorbs extra bone. The answer lies within. But to answer** **GJO1088** **: Shiro will never gain an understanding of embarrassment, either with himself or others. Partially for comedy, partially because why would he?**

The rest of the students watched as the bone user limped toward the neared tree and sat down. His body was heavy from all the bone he'd absorbed, and he entertained the thought of expelling it where he was but decided against it. The others around were already a bit frightened of him it seemed, no need to show them anything else until it became necessary.

The four girls returned several minutes later. Each was dirty and slightly ragged but there were no obvious injuries on their bodies. What was obvious, however, was their surprise that the other group had managed to kill the Deathstalker. After all, Ruby and Yang were the only ones with heavy enough firepower to dent the scorpion's armor, Nora's hammer notwithstanding.

"Um, guys?" Yang asked. "I seem to remember leaving you with a big-ass bug while we killed the Nevermore. What happened to it?"

Pyrrha's head tilted toward the rose, which was now more clearly visible since the Grimm's corpse had vanished fully. Four sets of eyes widened as their owners looked at the only evidence of the battle. A short but thick stem, covered in spikes, attached the bottom of the flower to the ground. The rose itself was tilted slightly, with some of the petals resting on the earth while those on the opposite edge angled away from it. Several dozen petals twisted together and flared outwards for an open and full appearance. The base of the petals were a pure, brilliant white, but the outside edges were splashed in deep red.

The returnees gasped in wonder now that they took a good look at the flower. "Beautiful. . ." breathed Weiss. What the huge flower had to do with the Deathstalker was still unknown to her, but it took the girl's breath away. The same could be said about the other three, especially Ruby. Her eyes were practically sparkling with awe. It reminded her of her mother, Summer Rose, and of herself. The white was her mother's life, short and finished but with great meaning and beauty. The red was herself, growing from that legacy and extending toward the open air. There were no words for what the girls were feeling.

Blake was the first to tear her eyes away from the haunting sight and get back to the original point. "What is this and why is it here? What does it have to do with the Deathstalker?"

Pyrrha was hesitant to speak given her distaste. She could admit that the rose was amazingly crafted, but she knew firsthand that the creator had not done it just for the sake of artistry. Ren noticed and took over the explanation in her stead.

"It was Shiro, as Ruby calls him. He created it out of the Deathstalker's armor, killing it from the inside out."

Their attention turned to the boy sitting by the tree. Ruby ran over to him, noticing that her friend looked tired and remembering that he still had an injured leg. She knelt next to him and looked for injuries, relaxing only slightly when she found nothing new. "Are you alright?" His nod relieved what remained of her fears. Instead, her excitement and cheerfulness took the front. "That is so coool! I mean, a little over the top, but completely awesome at the same time! Oh, but we were awesome too. We lured the Nevermore over to the ruins, and were all 'Come get us, birdie!' Then Weiss froze it in place, and the others all sent me flying at it, and Weiss used her Semblance to shoot me up the cliff, and I cut it's head off, and it was just so super cool!"

Ruby returned to reality after her monologue with a huge, excited grin on her face, obviously hoping Shiro shared her joy as she recounted the story. While he was actually quite confused as to what had happened in the story, he was able to see that his only friend was happy, which was enough for him. He smiled; just a small shift of his features. But it enough to let Ruby know that he shared her happiness.

Meanwhile, Yang was watching the two younger students with a worried look. She still didn't trust the boy, but Ruby was fond of him for whatever reason. She'd have to keep an eye on him, especially since he was partners with her little sister.

Once both groups had composed themselves and the remaining teams had collected their pieces (A golden rook for the Jaune-Pyrrha duo and a matching knight for the collection of three), they began to head out toward the cliff where they started. Or attempted to, in the case of Shiro and Ruby. The younger girl had attempted to assist her partner in walking like before, but was unable to support his weight this time. Blake noticed and attempted to help by reaching under his other arm, but even together he seemed ridiculously heavy.

"Shiro, why are you so heavy?" asked the disguised Faunus.

The boy remembered that he still hadn't dumped his excess weight, but also noticed that everyone was currently watching him. He wasn't embarrassed to discard the excess, but knew from past experience that it would be in his best interest to do this with nobody watching. After all, he'd been kicked out of more than a few places for disposing of bone in public. But, given that these people had already seen his ability and not completely freaked out, he might be able to trust them to at least see this.

"I absorbed much more bone than I used when I fought the Deathstalker. If you're alright with it I could dump all of it here, or you help me to the treeline."

Not seeing the harm, the other six members of the group gave their approval as the two supporting him backed off a few feet. Unfortunately, they were not prepared for what happened next. While he could have shot it out in a solid form as he did in combat, that required his skin to open up and a large amount of Aura use. To save himself both pain and energy, he had discovered a different method of disposal for use when out of battle.

White fluid began to ooze from Shiro's pores, slowing flowing out like honey from a bottle. The semi-liquid bone pooled around his feet and coated the grass. After about a minute the puddle was around five feet in diameter and an inch or so deep. One could almost mistake the puddle for snow. That is, if snow were extremely viscous.

This way was much more passive on Shiro's part, requiring only a minimal amount of Aura to break down and liquefy the bone, then sending it out of his body via natural openings. Best of all, it didn't hurt. People never understood the pain of having a finger or palm, or even the head split open to make way for bone growths. Sure, the pain lessened over time and the peculiarities of his ability caused the wounds to close immediately, but it would never stop hurting completely.

The one downside was that it was disgusting. Weiss and Jaune both turned a little green, while the rest (Nora, who found it fascinating, excluded) just looked away. Blake and Ruby had retreated, now standing with the rest of the group and in similar states. Ruby at least tried to look, but it was just so creepy! Only once Shiro had finished and joined the rest of them did anyone even attempt to speak.

"Shiro?"

"Yes, Ruby?"

"Please never do that again."

The resident Grimm-boy nodded his head in assent, not at all surprised by the request. In fact, he was impressed that they were taking this so well. No one had shot him a look of disgust yet, which was a plus. Still, not a single word was said on the way back, the minds of the group occupied by trying to erase the images of the boy pouring out white streams of his own skeleton.

* * *

"Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie. You four have retrieved the White Rook piece. From this day forward, you will be known as Team JNPR (Juniper), led by. . . Jaune Arc." A measured applause followed the headmaster's words, respectful but not overly boisterous.

Nora was delighted and grabbed onto Ren, almost dragging the dark-haired boy down to the ground. Jaune was shocked, much like a large portion of the audience. Shiro couldn't blame him, since Jaune was undoubtedly the weakest of the group. He had the best mind for battle though, and decent instincts. It reminded him of General Ironwood. Well, if the General didn't have a rod about twenty feet long up his ass. Speaking of asses, Jaune was quickly knocked onto his by a punch on the shoulder from his partner, which to her credit the girl gave a sheepish, apologetic smile for and helped him up.

It was all a fairly boring affair to Shiro, of course, but other than the amount of people around him he was able to stay detached from all of it. Once JNPR had vacated the stage though, the boy let out a barely audible groan. The reason being that next was his team, and being in the spotlight, however briefly, was going to be highly uncomfortable. "Blake Belladonna, Weiss Schnee, Ruby Rose, Shiroi Akujin, and Yang Xiao Long. You five managed to retrieve the White Knight pieces. From this day forward, you will be known as Team RWBYS (Rubies), led by. . . Ruby Rose."

Much like Jaune, Ruby had frozen in place, shocked that a girl of her age would be chosen to lead. Yang gave her a huge hug, crushing the smaller girl momentarily while the group's Faunus member smiled subtly. Weiss was significantly less pleased than the others, giving the red-hooded girl a look of annoyance. 'Wonder what her problem is,' Shiro thought. He face was neutral, though the beginnings of a smirk played on his features. The attention wasn't on him, and he was actually a little bit happy for Ruby. It was strange. . . she'd only showed him the smallest bit of kindness, yet he felt far more connected to her than to anyone else in the past four years. Unbeknownst to the young boy, the Headmaster's eyes were glancing sidelong at him as these events unfolded, one eyebrow raised in interest.

When the group stepped down from the stage, Goodwitch walked on to give the group of students a final set of instructions for the day. "We have taken the liberty of updating your Scrolls with your room numbers, as well as the codes to unlock the doors. In addition, all of your teammates should be logged in the Contacts list, complete with pictures and numbers. Please go to your rooms and rest for the remainder of the day. Classes will begin first thing in the morning."

I didn't take long for Team RWBYS to find their room on the eighth floor of the building, right across from Team JNPR's. On the way everyone had exchanged Scroll numbers with each other, their friendship born of shared struggle and the social awkwardness both leaders experienced. Well, all but one, Ruby noticed as the doors came into sight. "Shiro, aren't you going to tell the others your number?"

"I wasn't intending on it, no."

Ruby's face took a confused and displeased expression at the same time, by some miracle of facial contortion. "But why?"

All she got in return was the same neutral look he usually wore. He didn't exactly care to make friends other than Ruby, so he felt no need to give his number to anyone outside the team. He didn't even really want most of them to have it, but he knew that it was practical for the others to be able to contact him, or vice versa, if needed. Besides, the professors had already sent it to them and he couldn't exactly undo that without stealing their devices.

Team JNPR didn't seem to be complaining, either. They had enough tact not to bring up the Deathstalker incident, but seeing it and hearing about it was completely different. The memory was haunting, so beautiful and yet so deadly. Not to mention that the dark-skinned boy would not hesitate to do the same thing to any of them, should he feel the need or want. "Look, Ruby," Jaune said while trying his best to hide the hint of fear in his voice, "if he doesn't want to we can't force him. Let him open up on his own." The young girl pouted very cutely at the other boy, something which Shiro actually found amusing. She let the issue drop as the two teams retired to their respective rooms, both ready to rest for the coming day.

The inside of the room was decently large, with a rug, bookcase, and a dresser. If it weren't for the fact that there were four beds taking up much of the floorspace, the room would actually be fairly open. Yang quickly scoped one out near the wall, closest to the bathroom. The other girls soon followed, the nagging suspicion in the back of their minds that they were forgetting something. After claiming their sleeping spots, they scanned the room and noticed one person not sitting on a bed.

"This isn't going to work," Yang summarized.

"Not with only four beds. I guess we could get another, but that'd make the floor space virtually non-existent. Besides, it doesn't solve the immediate issue," Blake agreed.

Ruby had a look of concentration on her face, looking around occasionally as if a bed were going to rise from the floor. Weiss, meanwhile, was heading to the bathroom to change for the night. Let it be know that she didn't much care where the boy slept so long as it was out of her personal space. He gave her the creeps anyway, and not just because of his Grimm-ness or the bones. No number of eerily beautiful statues would erase that feeling. No, there was something else at play, something she couldn't discern at the moment.

Shiro cocked his head at the three in the room, his face not changing whatsoever. "What's the problem, exactly?"

"Well, where are you going to sleep?" Ruby asked. Hearing this, Shiro's head shifted to the other side, his eyes looking vaguely upward before he straightened his neck a few seconds later. He calmly walked over to the window, opened it, and jumped out. Doing so alarmed the other three, who looked out and stared at the ground, surprised not to find a black and white pile on the paved ground below. Looking around wildly, Ruby let out a cry of surprise and pointed to a spot in a nearby tree, a bit below the sill and with long branches. On one of them rested their only male teammate, who began scaling his way toward the bottom. "Where are you going?" She called out to him.

He looked back up, locking eyes with her briefly before speaking. "I'm finding a place to sleep. Should I come back in the morning, or go right to class?"

Having given up on understanding the his rationale, Ruby hung her head down, at least relieved that her teammate and friend hasn't plummeted to his death. "Come back, please. Like, an hour before classes start." He sent a nod in return before dropping to ground level and walking out of sight, toward the center of campus. The room was silent for a minute, the next sound being the hinges of the bathroom door.

Weiss frowned and looked around the room, now dressed in her nightgown. "What happened to Akujin?"

The other three girls pointed out the window in unison, faces not giving anything away. The heiress analyzed the situation for a moment, walked over to her bed, and simply decided that the issue could be dealt with later before passing into a deep slumber, the others following suit within minutes. It had been a long day.

 **So there we go. Reviews with thoughts or criticism are appreciated, and I will try to not go quite so long between updates on this story, no promises though. I basically have this at the bottom of the priority list for my stories, sorry to say. Every week or two should be manageable, assuming my courses don't get any more crazy.**


	7. Chapter 7: Mess of a Morning

**This story hasn't gotten too much love lately, so here we go!**

 **Victory3114: It would be possible to enhance weapon with bone, yeah. Of course, most metals are far stronger than bone so I'm not sure there are many instances where you'd want to. Still, cool idea.**

 **V01dSw0rd: Thanks, and hope those ideas work out well for you.**

 **Naruto Uchiha 999: I will be following the main plot for the most part, with some small additions here and there to accommodate Shiro as a character.**

Blake woke to the sound of running water. At first she resisted the impulse to rise and investigate, wanting nothing more than to return to her dream. It was a good one, full of fish and romance, though how those things intersected was anyone's guess. But after a few minutes her tiredness was overpowered by curiosity, opening her eyes to see which of her team members had woken before her. To her confusion, she saw that Ruby and Weiss were still in their beds, and she had no need to check on Yang. Girl was not the quietest sleeper, though thankfully it wasn't loud enough to prevent any of the others from getting rest. That left only one member of the team, but she hadn't heard the door open to admit him. Blake was a relatively light sleeper, trained to be during her time with the White Fang. The bathroom door was one thing, but the door to the room had an electronic lock which beeped when opened, something she wouldn't have missed. Then she saw the open window the window, remembering that nobody had closed it after Shiro jumped out last night. 'That explains that.'

The water stopped abruptly. There were a few muffled bumps from the other side of the wall before the door opened to admit Akujin, their not-so-resident fifth team member. Who was once again nude as he entered the room itself.

'Would it kill him to remember he's sharing the room with four girls?' Blake thought despite the fact that she was continuing to watch him dress, red-faced. Thankfully none of the others were awake to see it; Weiss would have had an absolute fit. From there the boy just took a seat on the floor next to the wall, closing his eyes and laying his hands on his legs as he took up a meditative pose.

Seeing no reason to disturb him, Blake made sure to keep as quiet as possible as she got out of her bed and grabbed a uniform. She kind of liked it, mostly black and white just as her normal clothes were. She could have done with leggings instead of a skirt, but whatever. She must have not been walking quietly enough, however, because as she passed in front of Shiro he opened his eyes briefly. A second later he closed them again, apparently having seen whatever he'd needed to. She let the incident lie without saying anything. She entered the bathroom, the floor still slightly wet from where the previous occupant had been standing while he dried himself, which he'd done with Ruby's towel if the item's dampness was any indication. They'd each claimed one before dropping off the night before, the last one being given to Weiss who fell asleep before them. Because the room had been meant for only four people, the team had only been supplied with four towels, so no matter what Shiro would have had to use someone else's. Blake was just glad it hadn't been hers, not that it mattered all that much, it would just have been weird to dry herself with a towel that was already somewhat damp.

She took a relatively short shower, maybe fifteen minutes, and exited back out to the room dressed in her full uniform. Shiro was sitting in the same exact position, his breaths deep and slow. When she passed in front of him, however, the rhythmic breathing stopped. "Blake?" he said quietly.

"Yes?"

"Yesterday you were trying to correct me from being naked in front of others, right?"

"Yes," she confirmed.

"I'm a bit confused, then. How can you correct my behaviour when you walk around the room without underwear on? It seems hypocritical to me. Then again, I'm only moderately familiar with the concept of modesty, so maybe I'm in the wrong." The girl's face turned a bright crimson, remembering the momentary glance he'd given her as she passed him. He was at about the right level to see, now that she thought about it, and it was true that she slept without anything under her kimono.

"W-well that's your fault for looking," she explained as calmly as her distress would allow. He wasn't making a huge deal out of it, so neither would she. Besides, if the others woke up to this, it would be awkward for everyone. "Most men don't look up a girl's nightgown."

"I see. By that logic, though, isn't it your fault for looking at me after I shower, as well?"

"The difference is that I at least wear something to cover myself and I change where no one can see. That way, unless someone invades my privacy, or just happens to be at the right angle like you were, they don't see anything."

"So that's how it works. Alright." Conversation apparently over, he went back to his meditation, chest rising and falling in the same pattern as before.

She thought she was in the clear until a hand settled on her shoulder, the other slowly making its way toward her chest. "What, you give him a free show but not your partner? I'm hurt, Blake. How are you going to make it up to me?" Blake spun around quickly, breaking the loose hold Yang had around her as she tried to suppressed a laugh at the reaction, failing superbly. She was clutching her stomach with one hand while the other found a wall, which she used as support throughout her giggling fit. Surprisingly, neither of the sleeping girls woke up as a result of her laughter.

After a minute or two the shaking subsided Xiao Long stood up straight again, wiping a bit of moisture from her eyes. "So, what's this about lecturing him over showering? He come out naked or something?"

"Pretty much. There was an. . . incident on the first day." She wouldn't elaborate any further unless pushed. There was no need for Yang to know the details, and Oum forbid she ever find out Ruby was there too. She'd probably put Shiro through a wall, maybe several.

Yang looked toward the boy meditating against the opposite wall. "Hm, guess I could get behind that show, too." She still didn't know what to think of the boy, but she had to admit that he was at least somewhat attractive. Blake groaned at her new partner's decision, getting the distinct feeling that this would not be the last time Yang did something shameless.

"Just go shower. It's seven already, and we still have things to do." The blonde rolled her eyes but complied, knowing that if she didn't do it before the Schnee girl woke up there'd be trouble. The shorter girl just looked like she would take all the bathroom time if she could. "By the way, Shiro."

"Yes?"

"You came back earlier than expected. I think our earliest class doesn't start until nine. Change of heart?"

"No. I was never told what time classes started, so I just came here once I was done with my exercises." Blake's hopes sank slightly. "I could leave, if you prefer."

Blake waved off the suggestion, though he obviously wouldn't see it with his eyes closed. "No reason you should. Having you here will make moving things around easier." Shiro made no attempt to respond. Blake actually somewhat liked the boy, despite what it might seem like to other people. She just didn't really know how to interact with him. It was rare that she found someone more antisocial than she was, avoiding as much contact with other sentient beings as possible. Likely the only reason he was even here was because he didn't have anywhere else to go that would accept his eccentric personality.

Sometime during Yang's shower Ruby woke up as well, her gaze unfocused and hair slightly wild. She smiled when she noticed Shiro in the room, calling out a soft greeting which was acknowledged with a wave. Yang was out a few minutes later, allowing her sister to shower and change while she left the room for a few minutes. Where the blonde went was anyone's guess, and nobody bothered asking. It was no surprise that Ruby took the least time in the shower, just under ten minutes. She came out right before Yang returned.

"Hey, why was my towel already wet?" the young leader asked the room.

"I think Shiro used it," Blake replied shortly.

"Oh, makes sense. I guess we need a lot of things because of the extra person. That can wait until later, though. First, we have to get the room set up!" The shout at the end caused Weiss to stir slightly, which gave Ruby an idea. She pulled out a whistle from her bag and leaned over the heiress' bed. When the late riser sat up, Ruby blew the whistle right in her ear, startling her so much that she toppled onto the floor with a shriek.

"Good morning Team RWBYS!" the leader yelled. The girl on the floor did not share her enthusiasm, understandably.

"What in the world is wrong with you?"

"Now that we're all awake, we can get on with our first order of business!"

"Excuse me?"

Yang held up a pile of items. "Decorating!" She was holding quite a few things, most of which were not hers, or even her roommates'. Shiro, not able to continue meditating with all the noise, noted that she held a miniature version of Pyrrha's shield, a bottle of Samurai Shampoo, and one of the chess pieces from the set used as relics, among a bunch of other things. 'Explains what she did while she was out. Only question is why.'

"We still have to unpack." Blake added, holding up her suitcase. The luggage instantly snapped open, spilling the contents all over the floor. "Aaand clean."

Weiss just stood there, dumbfounded and unable to understand what was going on in the slightest. Ruby apparently thought that the situation called for another blow of the whistle, sending Weiss down for a second time. "Alright!" the leader announced with a confident smile. "Weiss, Blake, Yang, and their fearless leader Ruby have begun their first mission. Banzai!" She threw up a fist for emphasis.

"Banzai!" the others joined, causing Shiro to look at them almost as strangely as Weiss had begun to do from her place on the floor. He'd thought the cry was something used only by people from certain sects of Vacuo, like the one he was born in. Apparently it had grow to popular in Vale too.

The three girls stood like that for several seconds as Weiss stood up before staring at her expectantly, causing the recently woken girl to sigh in exasperation. "I'm taking a shower first," she stated before grabbing her own uniform and walking into the bathroom.

Ruby shrugged, not allowing the brusque behavior to affect her too much since there was an unspoken agreement there. She shifted to the member of her team who had been on the ground willingly this entire time, noticing for the first time that while he was dressed for the day, he was dressed in his normal clothes. "Um, Shiro?"

"Yes?"

"Why aren't you wearing the uniform?" Blake and Yang turned their heads, also noticing it for the first time.

"Uniform? You mean the clothes they left in the room?" His only friend nodded. "They're harder to move in. I really don't like them, so I decided to wear this instead."

"But you have to wear the uniform when you go to class."

"Why?"

"Because the rules say so," Blake intoned. "If you don't wear it, the teachers will bother you about it." Shiro appeared to think about it for a moment, probably weighing whether the freedom of movement was worth being bitched at by professors. He came to a decision shortly, standing up and stretching with a few satisfying pops. He stripped off his shirt and unceremoniously threw it off to the side, eliciting a squeak from Ruby. The youngest turned away, red-faced, while the other two girls watched him. Yang was always up for a chance to grab some eye-candy, of course, and to Blake it was quickly becoming a normal thing. It helped that she enjoyed the view almost as much as her partner.

His shoes and jeans followed suite, being replaced with Beacon's uniform within half a minute. "Alright Rubes, you've officially missed the show," Yang teased. Ruby spun back to face a properly dressed Shiro, though the term "properly" may be up for dispute. The sleeves of both the shirt and the blazer were rolled up to above the elbow, the tie had been dispensed with altogether, and the blazer was completely unbuttoned, and rather than the dress shoes and socks he had chosen to retain his sandals.

"I suppose it works," Blake judged after examining the boy for a moment.

"Yup, gives him a bad boy kind of look," Yang agreed, flashing him a thumbs up. "I approve!" In truth, he did look the part of a delinquent, his red eyes and messy black hair giving him a feral, unkempt appearance and the uniform's modifications looking like a statement of rebellion rather a matter of comfort and mobility.

Weiss left the bathroom in a little over thirty minutes looking refreshed. The others had all put their clothes away, something Weiss wasn't going to bother with at the moment. After all, they'd be there for a while if she tried. The next half hour or so was devoted to setting up furniture, hanging curtains and wall decor, and organizing everyone's things as best they could. Shiro was forced to do any heavy lifting, including moving out of the way the one thing that they seemed unable to organize: the beds. All four were piled on top of each other in the center of the room like some kind of beaver dam.

"This isn't going to work," Weiss brought up.

"It is a bit cramped," Blake admitted.

"Maybe we should ditch some of our stuff," Yang suggested.

"Or, we could ditch the beds," Ruby began, gasping as an idea formed in her mind, "and replace them with bunk beds!"

"That sounds incredibly dangerous," Weiss objected.

"And super awesome!" Yang contended with a fist pump.

"It would be efficient." Blake stated.

"Well," the heiress protested, "we should put it to a vote."

Ruby glanced toward her with her hands on her hips. "Uh, I think we just did." Weiss knew she was defeated, so she decided that it would at least go faster, and be safer, if she helped. A few minutes later brought the sight of two. . . multilevel things that could be slept in. To call them proper bunk beds when one set was simply stacked with books between their posts and the other top bunk was being suspended from the ceiling by rope would be sort of improper.

Shiro had been looking at the whole bunk bed operation with apathy while they worked, but in a rare display of emotion he was now scowling, a fact Ruby didn't miss. "Something wrong?"

"Ruby, he still doesn't have a bed," Blake reminded her.

Shiro shook his head though. "That's not it. This just looks like shit." All the girls looked at him in shock. There's no way the wild child standing in the room was criticising their aesthetic sense, right? "It looks like it's going to fall at any moment." Nope, just their craftsmanship.

"Well do you have any bright ideas?" Weiss baited. Normally Shiro wouldn't have cared, or even spoken up in the first place, but Ruby was sleeping in one of those and he'd be damned if they just fell apart with his friend in them. Without answering, Shiro walked up to the hanging structure and carefully dismantled it, laying the frame and mattress down off to the side. He activated his Semblance and carefully molded a piece of bone in his hand. It was a tall white prism, the square faces matching those of the posts on the bed frames. He created three more and placed each on top of a corner before lifting the other frame on top of them with a bit of help from Yang.

"Alright, but how are you going to keep them together?" the Schnee princess asked again. It was the biggest problem the girls had when making their own attempt. In answer Shiro put his hands on two of the supports he'd made, then stepped away from them after a few seconds to do the same on the other side. He jerked his head toward the proper bunk bed he'd created, an unmistakable gesture to test it. Blake stepped up and pushed on each of the parts - both bunks and the supports - in every corner. She was pleasantly surprised to find that they didn't budge in the slightest. "How?"

"Simple," he answered. "I made long screws inside of the supports, four each. They go a few inches into either frame. Extremely dense bone, shouldn't break unless you take a sledgehammer to it. Or Yang punches it hard enough." The blonde preened under the praise of her strength, and the objectivity he used in saying it made the words sound all the more sincere.

He repeated the process on the other set of beds, returning the books used to hold up the top bunk to the bookcase, a gesture Blake appreciated. Just like the former set, there wasn't even the slightest movement. Ruby tested them herself, squealing with delight as she hopped up to her bunk and rolled around in it. With possibly Semblance-fueled speed she jumped down and hugged the creator, who instantly froze in place on contact. "Thanks Shiro!" She let go almost as quickly as she had latched on, going back up to her bed and leaving Shiro to sort out why someone had just hugged the equivalent, in his own mind, of a barely tame Beowolf.

"Alright, with that out of the way, our second order of business is!" Ruby allowed for a short but dramatic pause. "Classes." She pulled out a book and a pencil from somewhere and looked over the schedule for the day. "Now, we have a few classes together today. At nine we've gotta be-"

"What?" Weiss interrupted, the shock in her voice breaking Shiro from his prison of confusion. "Did you say nine o'clock?" Ruby uttered a noncommittal noise in return. "It's eight fifty-five you dunce!" The white-haired girl bolted out of the room, prompting the other three girls to follow within seconds. Shiro simply looked at his Scroll to confirm Weiss' fears and walked out last, watching Team JNPR race along behind his teammates.

 **Thanks to all my readers and reviewers, as always!**


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